Sightings Archive

2019

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2017

Steve Boswell; Research Surveyor for MARINElife
Weather:
Day 1 North East force 2-3 swell 1 metre
Day 2 North West force 4
Day3 North East force 6 swell 2-3 metre
Day 4 North East force 6 swell 1 metre
Day 5 North East moving to South West force 2-3

I boarded Neptune Aegli at 22.00 and introduced myself to
Captain Georgios Xylouris before being shown to my cabin. The ship
sailed at 02.00.

After a large breakfast, I headed up to the bridge at daybreak
to find that we were off Brixham. The sea state was good and with
the light behind us I had great viewing conditions. Groups of
Common Dolphin were seen and then four groups of Pilot Whale. A
very close Minke Whale ended a busy session.

Minke Whale (Adrian Shephard)

A group of Herring Gull were mobbing something and as they came
nearer and nearer, an unfortunate Barn Owl revealed itself out at
sea and in full sunshine. At 16.00 we turned the corner around
Lands End and and I watched the green flash as the sunset at 18.30
before heading down for dinner.

Most of Sunday was spent in Portbury, we set sail at 16.00 bound
for Santander as Rosslare was not being visited on this trip. I
managed a couple of uneventful hours before darkness fell as we
sailed between Steepholm and Flatholm.

Overnight the wind increased to between 20 and 30 knots and a
large swell was running. Morning saw us 30 miles off the Brittany
coast near the island of Ouessant. As the sun rose, I was
greeted with low glare. As we approached the northern shelf, good
numbers of dolphins were seen including a nice tight packed group
of Striped Dolphin. A spectacular sight in this area was nearly 300
Great Shearwater flying close to the bow in a fifteen minute
period.

Great Shearwaters (Peter Howlett)

The following morning we berthed in Santander. As it was low
tide I headed to the estuary directly across from the dock. A
raised platform gave good views of waders and ducks with the
highlight being 10 feeding Spoonbill. After previously being fooled
by the raptor scarer on a lamp standard, I was amused to see a
real-life Peregrine sat on a standard next to the scarer!

Peregrine Falcon (Peter Jones)

We departed at 12.30 for the 22 hour sailing to Le Havre. A
second owl of the survey was seen as we headed into the Southern
Bay in the form of a Short-eared Owl. A flock of 12 Skylark flew
towards the coast. The wind soon increased and viewing was very
difficult, no cetaceans were seen on this section of the
survey.

The sea calmed overnight and Wednesday I arrived on the bridge
to see better viewing conditions. Just 30 miles west of Alderney
before we entered the Channel shipping lane many small groups of
Common Dolphin were seen but sea bird numbers were quite low.

Common Dolphin (Jack Lucas)

Thursday was spent in Le Havre where a Black Redstart spent the
day on the rocks close to the ship. 300 Coot were feeding in the
estuary and I observed feeding frenzies of gulls and Cormorant. A
short amount of time to survey after leaving port produced a
Harbour Porpoise. I headed down for yet another large meal, thanked
the crew and Captain for all their assistance and had a few hours
sleep before disembarking in Southampton early Friday morning.